1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a calorie control apparatus for calculating and controlling the calorie intake by entering a name of food ingested.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently it has been recognized in various fields that eliminating the corpulence of a person is essential for prevention of the adult disease. On the other hand, among the young women, a diet for the purpose of beauty becomes popular and they have interested in calorie intake and calorie consumption. In addition, some of the persons have a body weight substantially lower that the normal due to an unbalanced diet. In order to have the proper diet it is necessary to calculate the calorie intake, and therefore, a portable calorie calculation unit for use in anywhere has already been developed.
For instance, there is a calorie calculation unit developed in which personal information such as age, sex, height, body weight and other information about the living circumstances for a person are stored in advance. Each time the person takes a meal the person enters the names of foods that he ingested and food numbers assigned therefor in advance. Then the calorie calculation unit indicates the total calorie intake for a day or compares it with the necessary calorie value derived from the above-described personal information for indication to the person.
Such calorie calculation unit is configured to read out the calorie data for each of the foods from the memory for calculation. However it is necessary to enter some data that can identify each of the foods ingested, as described above.
Due to the fact that there are great many kinds of food present now a various types of input means have been developed for facilitating input of the food ingestion data to a calorie control apparatus.
One of such input means was to enter a code number assigned to each of the foods for inputting the food ingestion data.
Another input means is disclosed in the applicant""s Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-211549. As disclosed therein, when an initial character of the name of food ingested is selected from among the Japanese syllabary (Japanese characters), then the full names of foods, beginning with that character, are sequentially displayed, one of which can be selected.
However, the input means for inputting the food names, as used in the prior art calorie control apparatus, as described above, had the following deficiencies:
For example, in case of the input means for entering the food numbers with the keys, it was necessary for the person to always carry some form of the list showing the food numbers with him or to memorize such food numbers in his brain. In addition it was very cumbersome for the person to search for the intended foods from among too much food numbers held in such list.
In case of another input means using a bar code for food, it was necessary for the person to always carry a bar code list and a bar code reader with him. When reading the bar code the bar code reader should be operated many times to scan the bar code until it is recognized. In such case a recognition error may frequently occur.
Furthermore, in the case of the input means as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-211549, it was ultimately necessary to select an initial character of the food name with the key, and consequently, it took longer period of time to select the intended food.
On the other hand, while it is desired to input the food name immediately after taking a meal in order not to forget it, the person would frequently hesitate to do it with the input means as above. The reason for which is that there may be any possibility of making dirty of the apparatus with his hands that may not be clean after the meal. If the person thinks to do it after washing his hands it may happen that he forgets some of the foods that he ingested and even the input operation itself.
In such manner the input operation for the names of foods ingested has been very cumbersome and taking longer period of time. Therefore, even if the calorie control is conducted with the use of the calorie control apparatus, it is likely be discontinued in the middle way due to such cumbersome input operation. Thus the prior art calorie control apparatus needs for the person to have great perseverance for continuing the calorie control.
Furthermore, in the case of the calorie control for an aged person suffering from slips of memory, he tends to forget some of the food names and the amount of food that he ingested, if the input operation takes longer period of time to enter the names of foods. As the result, no precise calorie control can be attained for such aged person.
In view of the above an object of the present invention is to provide a calorie control apparatus that can eliminate the above problems in the prior art.
To attain such object the present invention provides a calorie control apparatus for calculating and controlling the calorie intake by entering a name of food ingested, comprising: a voice input unit; a memory unit; a voice recognition unit; and a control unit, whereby said voice input unit enters a voice signal, said memory unit stores the calorie value per a unit amount of each of foods, said voice recognition unit identifies the name of food on the basis of the voice signal entered, and said control unit calculates the calorie intake on the basis of the calorie value per a unit amount of the food stored in the memory unit corresponding to the food name identified.
According to one embodiment of the present invention the calorie control apparatus further comprises a manual input unit and the manual input unit enters the name of food ingested by the way other than by the voice signal.
According to another embodiment of the present invention the manual input unit is of pen touch type.
According to further embodiment of the present invention the calorie control apparatus further comprises a pen storage portion and the pen storage portion receives a pen that is used for touching to the manual input unit.
According to further embodiment of the present invention in response to unsuccessful identification of the food name by the voice recognition unit switching to the manual input unit from the voice recognition unit is effected for inputting the food name.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention in response to unsuccessful identification of the food name by the voice recognition unit continuing several times switching to the manual input unit from the voice recognition unit is effected for inputting the food name.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention the calorie control apparatus further comprises a display unit, the memory unit stores information about the voice signal for each of the food names, said voice recognition unit has a function of comparing the voice signal entered with the information about the voice signal for each of the food names stored in the memory unit and of determining a degree of matching therebetween, and said display unit displays the food name that has higher degree of matching as determined by the voice recognition unit under the control of said control unit.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention the display unit displays a plurality of the food names having higher degree of matching as determined by the voice recognition unit, among which the correct food name can be selected.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention the memory unit stores a history of the foods ingested in the past, and a specific food name is selected from among those having higher degree of matching as determined by the voice recognition unit on the basis of the history of the foods ingested in the past stored in the memory unit for displaying it on the display unit.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention the display unit displays total calories for all the foods ingested and each calorie for each of the foods ingested.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention in response to unsuccessful identification of the food name by the voice recognition unit an error message on said display unit is changed depending upon the condition of the voice signal.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention the calorie control apparatus further comprises a cover that acts to cover said display unit.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention the cover is molded from a transparent material.